Tuesday, July 26. 2005

The remarkable mass of people that began to stream to Gush Katif could not really have been stopped by anything less than machine guns. Certainly, the fence of Kfar Maimon didn't really stop them. And certainly not the tens of tired soldiers standing opposite the huge human spearhead. The giant march could have reached Gush Katif within hours and eradicated the expulsion plan.

During the three days of the march, we saw the Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha) Council and the heads of religious Zionism in their full glory, and also in their full disgrace. They managed to bring out the vast potential of the most faithful and determined public in the country. They managed to handle the logistical needs of such a huge cro! wd in ever-changing conditions. They managed to put together people-power of which leaders of other public sectors can only dream.

But when the time came to turn the great potential concentrated in Kfar Maimon into action, it turned out that they were simply unable to do so.

Whoever was part of the huge human wave that began to march toward Gush Katif had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Nobody marching thought that the great wave would stop after a few hundred meters -- of its own free will.

But when this holy human flood reached the gates of Kfar Maimon, the religious Zionist leadership was highlighted in all its weakness. It wasn't the gate that stopped the marchers, nor the relatively few police and soldiers that stood opposite the tens of thousands. What stopped them was the servile mentality of their leaders. What stopped them was their leaders' feeling that in order to be "Israeli", in order to belong, to be legitimate -- they need the approval of the! media, the authorization of the army, the police, the court system; in short, the approval of the "masters" of this land.

"We are standing here at the gate," explained Yesha Council chairman Bentzi Lieberman to the astonished marchers, "and waiting for the Chief of Staff and chief of police to come here so that we can negotiate with them."

"Don't touch the fence," explained Effie Eitam. "In all my thirty years in the army, I've never seen such a disciplined group of people."

The Chief of Staff and the police chief never came. They didn't have to. A servant who has not freed himself of the bars on his heart will never be able to act against the will of his master.

The Yesha Council sincerely did its utmost and did it with skill. In the merit of the Yesha Council, a very important fact became clear. The forces of expulsion have no true ability to deal with our huge, belief-based and determined crowd when we decide to act. All the soldiers and police in ! the country were brought to stand opposite the gates of Kfar Maimon.

There is no point in creating alternative leadership to put together a grand logistical plan at this stage. Any serious alternative leadership will immediately be arrested. The belief-based public has no choice. Every single person must become a leader. Every man and woman must be a general.

The police and army cannot chase thousands of faithful people marching by foot on dirt paths and fields toward Gush Katif. If the settlers of Beit El and Shilo, and the faithful of Ra'anana and Rechovot, organize into small groups and simply march toward Gush Katif, there will be no expulsion. Even if they don't reach their destination, they will force all the police and army in the country to focus only on them. As the day of the planned expulsion draws near, more and more faithful will set out toward Gush Katif. The roadblockings will also once again be activated. The expulsion forces cannot deal with this ! type of popular and spontaneous phenomenon. And there will be no expulsion.

For three days, the besieged marchers in Kfar Maimon explained to the soldiers that they must refuse their orders. The belief-based public has already taken the giant step of irreverence toward the blasphemy of the corrupt establishment. It seems as though the Creator was waiting for this same irreverence from the leaders of the holy public -- expecting them to worship Him and not the media.

The main question now is if the believing public will follow G-d despite its current leaders and despite some of its rabbis. The question is, will the simple, faithful Jew negate the establishment and start to march?

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